a hard farewell
by YuryJulian
Summary: it all begins in a cafe...


_Disc: All rights of the series DSV seaQuest, as well as 2032 and its characters aren't mine and I don't earn any money writing this story. _

Season: III

Category: General

Characters: Lucas, Cpt. Bridger

Rating: K

Author: Yury Julian

Beta: Anarore

Info: The events of the unfilmed script "in Father's Footsteps" do not exist in this story.

_ in lovely memory of Jonathan Brandis _

**A hard _farewell _**

The waitress brought him his coffee and placed another small jug of milk on the table. When she asked whether he would like to eat something, he shook his head. His appetite had passed, besides it was still too early in the morning to eat at all. He put a bit of the milk in his coffee, added two pieces of sugar and stirred.

A black motorcycle stopped in front of the cafe. The driver switched the engine off, pulled the key out and activated the steering wheel lock before he parked his motorcycle. He removed his black helmet and looked over to the large windows of the café. He saw the person who he wanted to meet sitting in a corner. The impression which he already had the day before, as he called him and asked him about this meeting, that there must be something wrong with him, reinforced.

He put the helmet over the steering wheel of his motorcycle, opened the zipper of the leather jacket and ran his fingers briefly though his hair, which had been pressed together under the helmet. Then finally he entered the café.

"Lucas." he said pleased, when he joined him at the table.

Lucas looked up briefly. He had light shadows under his eyes. Now it was certain there was something wrong. Sighing he reached for the hand of the scientist. "You should tell me right away what is bothering you. I only get more worried when I see you like this." He slid onto the bench and sat down.

"Thanks for taking some time for me, Captain." Lucas moistened his lips with his tongue.

Bridger regarded the young man fatherly who was sitting opposite to him. "You know, I'm always there for you and if you order me somewhere at short notice, then it's no problem. I'll help you where I can. Is it Oliver? Does he bother you?"

An amused smile flashed over Lucas' face. But as fast as it had appeared, it disappeared again. "No, there aren't any problems with Captain Hudson. It's nothing to do with him. He is the most harmless person there is in my area. No, it is something else."

They were interrupted by the waitress, who had seen the newcomer and was pleased to take care of his wishes. Nathan Bridger ordered for himself a coffee and with it another hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs. So that Lucas also ate something, he ordered another croissant.

"I really don't need anything to eat."

"Yes you do. And some sleep would surely do you some good aswell." Bridger peeled off his leather jacket and put it beside him on the red leather-covered seat.

"I won't sleep well enough the next days. Surely you know how it is to have something going through your head continuously."

Nathan supported his elbows on the table and leaned himself closer to Lucas. "You called me because you need me. Why don't you relieve yourself and tell me what is going on? Come on, you know you can trust me."

"If not you then who else?" Lucas said absently with glassy eyes.

Bridger put his hand on the lower arm of the young scientist. He urgently wanted to hug him. The whole image of Lucas was positively crying out for comfort, but he had to reckon with Lucas refusing his treatment at any time. Already in the past, he had been unpredictable in his reaction to such familiarities. The waitress came and brought the older man his breakfast. He also put some milk in his coffee. He pushed the croissant to Lucas. "Come on, you'd better eat something and then tell me slowly why I've to keep the entire day free for you"

Lucas did not touch the pastry, he only ran his left hand over his eyebrows and so covered his face. "I do not know whether it'll take the entire day, but I assume so. I've to be on board again by midnight. I won't need you much longer than that."

Even if everything inside him cried out to give his time and attention to Lucas now, he nevertheless began eating his breakfast. Lucas would not have asked him to come to this café if he had not completely wanted to avoid such things. The computer genius had exactly known how to make Bridger avoid these things. Supposedly it was for the best like that. With Lucas you had to wait until he himself was ready to tell rather than forcing him too much. For some reason he also did not like it if someone came too close in public places. So it was harder to restrain himself although he knew for sure he needed the comfort he wanted to give him.

"Is it a problem for you if you leave your motorcycle parked somewhere?" Lucas said after a while.

"No, that isn't a problem. Can I ask why or shall I wait and see?"

A tormented smile appeared on Lucas' lips. "I have rented a car which we are going to drive to my father's house with. I don't know what things I'll take with me, therefore I thought it would be better if I had something I can pack the things into afterwards and then take them to my own house."

Bridger put the fork aside and swallowed. "Isn't your father's house nearly one hundred kilometres away from here?"

Lucas looked at him. "Yes, it is. But I have to do it today." As Lucas continued he avoided the older man's eye again. "You know, it is a bit difficult. I got a letter from a lawyer's office that manages the whole inheritance matter of my father. Since I was already lost at that time, my father made a second will before he disappeared and according to it all properties belong to my mother now. Even if she doesn't want to believe that I'm still alive I'm sure, deep inside herself, she does know it, but she is surely afraid of the pain she had to go through ten years ago.

Be that as it may. She gave my address to this law office and said that I can get everything there from my father's house that I need or would like to have. I will not turn that down, of course. I also do not need more. I can't take care of the company of my father anyway, I suppose she might sell that too. It's not much use to her. A majority of the company is settled in Macronesia and you can't get there as a UEO citizen , that's no use at all. And about the money and all the other possessions he had otherwise, I must say it's all the same to me what happens to them. My earnings are not the worst and I also see in my near future no reason why I would have to worry about that. She could use them for her own work far more than I."

Nathan couldn't remember when he had last heard Lucas talk so absently about something. Probably never. This whole thing seemed to stress him more than he admitted.

"Why don't you try to eat something and then we'll drive together to the house of your father?" He pushed the plate with the croissant nearer to Lucas. "We are not leaving here before you have eaten up!"

"We can't even negotiate?"

"No, not at all. You do know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Also, with a filled stomach, the mood will improve."

Finally Lucas reached for the meal. "It won't become much better."

"You still hope to find your father alive?" Bridger could very well understand how Lucas must feel at this moment. Hadn't he had the same feelings for many years?

"Yes, I do." Lucas nodded heavily. "He was never there and I only rarely saw him. Then he was mostly more busy than he had time for me, but he was nevertheless my father and I most definitely meant something to him. I wish I knew what became of him. I don't know what to do with the declaration of authorities that he is probably dead. The issue of a certificate of death on a fictitious date was complete nonsense in my point of view." He nibbled a small corner of his croissant. "In former times as a child I would have never thought he would be no longer there. When I was smaller I was afraid of that happening to my mother, but not to my father. I thought he would sit behind his desk and work forever."

"Believe me Lucas, we believe that of many humans. It is not easy to handle death and certaintly not the death of a loved one. You could see that very well with me. I looked for my escape in isolation and would have gone to rack and ruin, if I hadn't been pulled back into life. Some people manage it and can overcome this isolation, fill the loss with new life courage. Wherever your father is now, he is surely close to you and now holds a protecting hand over you. How else do you explain the return of the seaQuest?"

"You know, I actually don't have a particularly good direct line to the mystical realms of human faith?"

"Yes, but I believe it helps you to know that your father loved you very much and your mother does too. Her attitude towards you is cold and rejecting, but deep inside she loves you very much. You say, you believe she is afraid of opening up to you, because of

what she had to go through at that time. She doesn't want to keep the inheritance of your father for herself alone, but gives you precedence. I am sure, she knew too that you wouldn't do anything with the money and that you stand on your own two feet, because otherwise she would have given you some of it"

"I am not so sure. I do not know my mother in this direction at all. Sometimes I ask even myself, whether I even knew my parents how they actually were."

A longer silence settled in which nobody said a word. "I would rather not go there today at all" Lucas sighed deeply and finally bit larger piece from the pastry.

"Who would want to do that?"

The scientist stayed silent. Constantly several things went through his head at the same time since the arrival of the letter. Again and again, he went through the same scenes from the beginning. His father had promised to sign over a certain part of his company. That had been his biggest dream and as he got it in writing from his father he was proud that his father thought he was so grown up already. This dream had now burst. The department for the development of computer programs sat coincidentally in Macronesia and with the disappearance of the seaQuest and the resulting assumption that the crew were long dead, this agreement with the version of his father's new will was declared invalid. There was nothing Lucas would have rather had than this part of the company.

But how did he imagine how to do that? Even if it had not been changed and everything his father had ever possessed now belonged to him, he could still never take care of it. The service with the UEO was more important and as long as his obligation had not run out, he couldn't take care of other things.

"Shall we pay and go already?" Bridger said sometime and tore him from his thoughts. Lucas looked at him surprised, then he nodded. He pulled his wallet out of his trousers, but Bridger put the hand on his. "Leave it, i'll take care of it." Nathan signalled to the waitress and paid for them both.

Lucas had parked the rented car on the other side of the road. They drove first to Lucas' home, where the Captain parked his motorcycle in its garage beside the scientist's one and got into the car. They agreed on the fact that Bridger should drive and changed places. Hardly thirty minutes after they had left the café, they were on the highway and were driving to the small village where the estate of Dr. Lawrence Wolenczak was.

On arrival Bridger left Lucas all the time he needed. He hadn't been here for ages and also the house looked as if nbody had been there for a long time. While Lucas sat silently in the car and looked at the house, the Captain got out and regarded everything from outside more exactly.

The large white gate was bent and its hinges creaked as he pushed it to the side to enter the front garden. Here and there rust began to spread over it. The high hedges around property should have long gotten shears to it and the lawns ran wild with pretty much every kind of weed which could grow on it. On the facade of the house, wild ivy grew up to the roof. The plaster was peeling off already in some places and on the upper floor a window shutter hung crooked, probably the result of a past storm. Advertisments were pouring out of the mailbox. Later it was just thrown in front of the front door. Everything which wasn't carried off by the forces of nature lay about in the garden. Bridger squatted and looked through the letter slot in the door. Why hadn't one thrown it through there? But the answer came fast. There had to be a big pile of adverts behind the door too.

"My father was seldom at home. It wasn't unusual to come home and the first thing to do was to search for important letters in this pile of waste paper." Lucas had stepped to his side. Bridger had not noticed at all, how he had got out of the car.

"How do we come in now?"

"I have a key." Lucas held up a thin keyring. "I was told to put it on the fire-place after we finished. I think she is going to sell the house "

"Some things have to be done here, but to me it looks like a very beautiful place. Are you sure you wouldn't like to talk to your mother? This is the place where you grew up."

"Yes and no. I did not really grow up here, because mainly I lived with my mother in Buffalo. It would be nice to have this for myself, however there is a reason why I bought a house in CapeQuest and didn't come here and that is simply because everything here would only depress me too much. I would certainly break down sometime and I don't want that."

"I understand what you mean." And how he did. Bridger himself found it very hard to stay at a place any length of time which was full of memories of his wife Carol and their son Robert. Howdid Lucas only feel, nearly nothing at all had from its father actually and who had been separated by the fate much too fast from this?

Lucas put the key into the lock and turned it around twice, until the door was open. There actually was a mountain of leaflets behind it. He let Bridger in, who looked around the spacious room. On the left side a corridor led into the western wing. A fireplace was built into the partition to the stairs and on the right side the room was converted to a cosy living room. Everywhere lay expensive carpets, art articles and paintings hung on the walls. The wedding photo of the Wolenczaks stood on the fireplace as well as a baby photo of a lucky few months old baby, who held a cuddly toy dolphin at the tail in his mouth and smiled out of large blue eyes into the camera. Nathan took the picture into his hand, it automatically conjured a warm feeling into his inside.

Without losing much time, Lucas had squatted and tried to tidy up the advert garbage of the past three years, which was stacked behind the door. Nevertheless letters of anxious relatives emerged here and there, or business letters. Now and then a postcard from a business partner or a vague acquaintance turned up. He separated these things from the leaflets, which he collected into a pile. As soon as he was finished, he turned to Bridger, who had walked on further into the house and regarded a piano, which stood beside the large glass palisade leading outside into the garden.

"The grand piano was specially made. My mother had said a piano would fit here perfectly and to my father at that time, nothing was good enough for her, as they were newly married, and he organized the best grand piano he could find."

"Was it ever used?" Captain Bridger ran his finger over the paint and cleaned a thick layer of dust away.

"Oh yes, but not by my parents. I bet the thing has not been tuned since I was loaded onto the seaQuest at that time." Lucas went around the piano, opened the lid of the keys and began to play a melody briefly. It sounded terrible, however not because of the scientist's ability, but rather because of the condition the piano was in.

"So much for that." Lucas said and closed the lid again. "I would like to look around the work room of my father a little, before I tackle my old room. Could I ask you to pick out some old photos? In the drawers of that cabinet there should be some and if you find anyhing else, then don't hesitate in clearing that out either."

"Count on me." Bridger went around the grand piano to the appropriate cabinet.

Lucas disappeared upstairs, where he went, however, into the bedroom first. Thick spider webs hung in the corners of the ceiling. He did not want to know at all, how his would look now. As long as none of these creepy-crawlies ran in to him on his search, everything was alright.

In the wardrobes he only began to look uncaringly for interesting things. His father had been never a man who kept other things there apart from his clothes. What were the appropriate cabinets there for? But then there was a small jewellry casket on one of the shelves after all. Lucas got the small box out and opened it. Inside it was lined with red velvet and there was a signet ring in it, as well as some cufflinks, which had exactly the same coat of arms on them as the ring. They must have belonged to his great-grandfather. Lucas closed the small box again and put it on the bed. So he had something already that he would take with him.

He turned around and began to search through the drawers of the nightstand. Apart from some private letters and family photos he did not find anything. He put the jewellry casket into his trouser pocket and went into the work room. On the table, several documents lay scattered around. Various documents were on one of the shelves. The drafts of new projects and disks with the beta programs of new developments. Lucas bit his lower lip and thought. The company of his father had no more meaning for him at present and also not for his mother, but still it didn't mean that he could not claim the individual new developments for himself. Who knows, perhaps it could still be useful to him.

One of the drawers in the desk was locked. Searching, Lucas' eyes scanned the table. Where could the key only be? However, rather than searching for a long time, he began to take the table apart. He got the necessary tools from his room and trod on a spider that had decided to head for his computer. With a fright he realised the spider had decided to spin its web on it. The best thing would be for him to remove the hard disk and take it home with him, so that he would not have even more of those blasted animals at home. No-one would surely believe that spiders did not appeal to him particularly, if they regarded the things he pulled out of the sea and what he worked with.

In his room were some things he wished to take with him. It would be better if he got some of the boxes from the car later, which he had brought along in the trunk. As soon as he had opened the drawer in the work room, he examined the individual documents carefully. There were diverse stock shares which he had never heard of and a small book. Lucas took it and opened it. A passbook which was in his name. Lucas frowned. What did that mean? Each year deposits had been payed regularly onto the savings account. Quickly he leafed through the book to the last entry and could not believe his eyes. The scientist sank speechless to the ground and leaned against the wall. He had to come to terms with that first.

Captain Bridger had taken several photo albums from the cabinet which he was sure Lucas would like to have. They all contained memories of the years when Lucas still lived together with his parents. Two files with bills were in one of the lower cabinets and a further file with title deeds. Lucas would surely not take them with him, but Bridger thought it would be best to take them out too and put them on the table. If his mother planned to sell the house, she would want to get these things herself.

But then he found something that left him speechless. The document was in a noble frame and lay on a thicker bundle of different papers. Bridger sat down on the floor with crossed legs and regarded the document more exactly before taking the tied up bundle in his hand. Beside the two doctorates of Lawrence Wolenczak was a further work which he now examined closer.

Lucas had recovered to some extent and put the passbook next to the other documents which he would bring with him. His father had invested the money especially for him, who knows why, and that's exactly why he wouldn't just leave it here. He grabbed the first bundle and carried it downstairs. He would pack the remainder straight into the boxes, in order make the rest of the work easier for himself.

"Why didn't you ever mention anything about it?" Bridger asked astonished from a corner where he sat on the floor and read something.

At first, Lucas did not know what the older man meant, but then he noticed what the captain held in his hands. He took a deep breath and put the things on the table next to the ones Bridger had already stored there.

Bridger held out the framed document to him. "A doctorate is something you have to be proud of and not conceal."

"Not if it resulted more from obligation." Lucas took his document, which called him Dr. Lucas Wolenczak, and ran his eyes over it briefly. "You must have also found the work of my father there. He had two titles and my mother had one too. What a son I would be, if I didn't use my intellect and write a paper that's worthy to them?"

"Did your parents urge you to make a doctorate so early? You were fifteen, that's unbelievable!"

"Yes, I was very young and exactly for that reason nobody found out. For me, it was crazy to be called a doctor at that age. That is complete imbecility."

"You didn't tell me yet whether they forced you to write this work that early." Bridger held his doctoral thesis out towards him.

"No, they didn't, but I always knew how to make them look after me a bit more. I've always looked for their attention and I thought, if I wrote my paper during my studies already, then perhaps I would get what I always wanted out of them. And to be honest, I have to say I was often very bored so it was a welcome alternation to write this paper."

"Are you telling me now, that you really did it during your studies as easily as some of us would read a book?"

Lucas nodded. "Yes, more or less."

The older man was speechless. "This is really unexpected. I always knew that you are very intelligent and we can expect a lot of you. Kristin and I just recently discussed why you still haven't written a doctoral thesis but now this question is settled."

"You talk about me?"

"Yes! Say, does the UEO know of your title?"

The scientist shook his head. "No, I found it less than necessary . We are at war and I joined service. As director of science, but still in the military service. What do I want a doctorate for?"

Bridger laughed. "Then there is the question of how to call you from now on. Ensign doctor, doctor ensign? Or only doctor?"

"Exactly, just think how Hudson would be pleased if he had to call a word more if he wanted give me a dressing down." Finally Lucas loosened and began to laugh. The grieved tendency from the morning had gone, fortunately. It was never easy to pack the things of a family member who had departed but, in Bridgers eyes, Lucas managed very well.

"You should not keep it a secret any longer. I am proud of you and if I were you I would stand by my achievements! Especially for the age you made them in." Nathan put an arm around Lucas' shoulder. The ensign ran his finger over the letters on the document. "OK, I'll think about it." He put the frame holding his work to the side. "Let's get the cardboard boxes out of the car and pack up the first things. I have to do some things upstairs." Lucas rose and went outside. Thus the conversation was already again.

Captain Bridger helped to build the cardboard boxes and then together they packed the things which Lucas wanted for himself. They took some of the pictures from the walls. As Lucas had predicted, there weren't only a few things he wanted for himself.

They packed up together till the late afternoon and checked in all the rooms to see whether there was still something left. Lucas had made a list which he wanted to leave for his mother together with the key so that she knew what he had taken. He withheld the passbook from her. With the money of his father she was rich enough, but his father had already started the passbook before Lucas was born. He had paid money to it in regular periods. He was going to think for a very long time about what he would do with this money. But as long as there was no reason, the money should remain where it was.

With one hand on the door handle Lucas took a last glance into the house of his father. Bridger started the engine of the car. In Lucas' head, memories unwound themselves which went through his mind at this sight. It would be wonderful if he could enter this house once again and his father would be here. The hope deep inside himself hadn't died as long as no corpse was found. His father was still alive somewhere for sure. Certaintly!

He closed his eyes and closed the door slowly, then he stepped to the car and got in. "Let's go home and unload my stuff. I've made my peace with this place."

Nathan hugged him comfortingly and held him for a moment, then they drove off and left the property of Dr. Lawrence Wolenczak, which was full of memories and stories.

END

written 13./14.09.05

translated October 2005


End file.
